Samsung may innovate chip-making process

Samsung Electronics said Friday that it has developed and patented methods to use graphene in field-effect transistors (FETs) that may revolutionize computers.

The breakthrough has been published in the online edition of Science Magazine and nine patents have been secured.

Samsung said in a statement that devices with FETs could be used to give computers 100 times the computing power of conventional silicon chips. The company named the device a “barristor.’’

“The development means Samsung is speeding up efforts to develop future chip-making technology. We are positively able to leapfrog to next-generation technology ahead of any other firm,’’ said Park Seung-joon, a senior researcher at the company’s advanced institute of technology in a media briefing at its headquarters in downtown Seoul.

Graphene is considered one of the strongest materials ever-measured, an improvement upon and a replacement for silicon, and is a highly conductive material, experts said.

Much has already been made of graphene’s potential. It can be used for anything from composite materials such as carbon-fibers to electronics.

“The timing of commercialization of the device will be earlier than expected as the development is a minor upgrade from current chip-making technology,’’ said Samsung.

Billions of transistors inside a memory chip uses silicon as the main material and that’s why thinner is better in chip-making technology. For example, a memory chip using 20-nanometer level technology is far better than a chip with 30-nano technology in terms of power consumption and cost.

Samsung is the world’s first to mass-produce high-end and advanced chips using 20-nanometer level technology. But there are predictions that it could effectively handle even a thinner chip-making technology below 10-nanometers.

Scientists and chip experts are also saying that finding a replacement for silicon is still a long way off as devices with graphene have only ever been demonstrated on a “very small scale.’’

“The goal for Samsung Electronics is to replace silicon eventually, meanwhile it has to find effective applications that can reap more advantages based on existing materials,’’ said Park. <Korea Times/Kim Yoo-chul>

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